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Liberator 5.2
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Show Your Bones

How many follow-ups ever meet the high expectations of a hungry fan-in-waiting? Just like Karen O blasts on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' new joint, "Show Your Bones"... it's "Somethin like a Phenomena" baby (that's right, a rap-savvy rock song people. We are quick to complain about how a band has repeated itself, grossly altered its sound or worse, how they sold out. I've heard people saying the last two about this album and honestly, I think the criticism is more of a knee-jerk reaction than any reliable evidence that Karen and the boys (drummer Brian Chase and guitarist Nick Zinner) have let us down. No doubt, "Bones" is different from the Grammy-nominated "Fever to Tell." But the screaming and squealing electronic noises we discovered in songs like "Date with the Night" and "Man" have merely matured into a sporadic outpour, reaffirming the band in the process. In "Cheated Hearts," the band's adrenaline spikes and Karen controls her voice better than she controlled her balance when she managed to plummet six feet off a concert stage in 2003. So, I'm tuned in understandably when she chants "Sometimes I think that I'm bigger than the sound." Even if you're reluctant to spout out the accolades immediately, the enti re album becomes deliciously gratifying with every four minutes or less you indulge. Just in time for the summer, "Gold Lion" has a laid-backcamp fire groove, and "Honeybear" follows later with a fun, dusty feel. The band unleashes a sweet whig-out on "Mysteries" and although "Dudley" is probably more conventional than anything we've heard from the YYYs to date, it still has that underlying fury we've come to expect from the New Yorkers. And if you're still nostalgic over the ever-popular "Maps" ballad, no worries, "Bones" also delivers" Turn Into, "sort of like an update, for a wiser audience. While the band shows obvious restraint, the energy is diluted in a less sloppy format more commonly known as song writing-you've got to respect that. Make no mistake; the YYYs are in comfortable territory at the peak of its powers. The sound hasn't changed--it has only moved forward. (Erika Grant)